Do you know how hard it is to find a migraine trigger?

[conuly]

Seriously, if you google "most common migraine triggers" you'll find a hundred lists with ten items each, and none of them will totally agree with each other.

However, we do seem to have discovered that Ana reacts badly to lots of citrus (it remains to be seen if she reacts badly to just a little tiny bit of citrus) and not eating. That's a start.

Comments

[adrian_turtle]

Most of those lists of migraine triggers are lists of foods that have triggered migraine in somebody, somewhere. They usually don't mention that only about 25% of people with migraines have food triggers AT ALL. Knowing you're triggered by cheese or miso is useful, but knowing you're triggered by thunderstorms or your menstrual cycle? Not so much.

Speaking of which, how old is Ana? The hormones usually start cycling about a year or so before monthly bleeding starts. So if a 10 or 11 year old girl starts having migraines, you might want to check the calender. Of course, if they ARE hormonal, the only thing you can do about them is be scrupulously careful about other possibly triggers when you expect them (but it's easier to do that a few days a month than to do it all the time) and pray it's just a puberty effect. Some women only get migraines for a few years around menarche and menopause, but not in between.

[conuly]

Yeah, the existence of non-food triggers is not very reassuring. My mother used to be triggered by chocolate, which was annoying as she loves chocolate.

But puberty, that's an idea. They just started up recently, so that's a good idea.

[adrian_turtle]

There are some non-food triggers a person has some control over, though my perfume trigger is horribly difficult. (Mine used to get set off in job interviews, with the secretary. And holiday services at synagogue, though I've found I found one now that asks people not to wear perfume.)

You might also want to think about visual triggers. Some people are sensitive to flickering lights. Fluorescent bulbs at home or school that aren't adjusted quite right? Is she spending a lot of time with video games or movies? My middle school required enough screen time to cause problems for me (I know kids today need much more.) It's an eyestrain issue, regardless of how worthwhile any given progam or game might be.